Count Your Blessings, Not Your Problems
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: Leaving Rhys with Amanda and Finn overnight, Ashley felt like no one would be angry... but when TJ starts up trouble, what'll happen afterwards? (Co-written with werewolf-queen-022)
1. Separation Anxiety?

_**September 25th 2015…**_

_"Okay so here's his overnight bag, his bottles, stroller, carseat, bottle warmer, toys, highchair, baby food and Finn's setting up the portable crib-" Ashley responded as she rambled on._

_"Ash, it's okay. Everything's there, all ready. You just enjoy some time to yourself, alright? All new mothers need a break at times." Amanda replied as she held Rhys, who was confused about her shorter hair and lightly tugging at it… and looked at Ashley like he was asking "Where's the rest of her hair, Mommy?" and Ashley kissing his forehead._

_"Why the change in hairstyle?" Ashley asked._

_"Nikki decided that it was okay to go off script last Monday and tear some of it out so I had to get it cut. I don't know why she's copped an attitude with me lately." Amanda explained as Finn walked downstairs._

_"All set up, Ash." Finn replied._

_"Thank you both. Now Rhys, you be good for your aunt and uncle, okay?" Ashley responded._

_Rhys babbled, Ashley kissing his forehead before she left and Finn closed the door… and Rhys folding his arms as he pouted._

_"I don't know who has worse separation anxiety, Rhys or Ash." Amanda whispered as she lightly rubbed Rhys's back, Finn hearing his IPhone 6 chime and seeing a text from TJ._

_'I wanted to watch him this time around!' _

_"TJ's mad." Finn responded._

_"Well he gets irresponsible at times and don't tell him that I said that." Amanda replied, turning to Rhys. "You want a snack, little buddy?" She asked, Rhys nodding._

_After he ate, Amanda burped him and changed him and wiped her own hands off before throwing the used baby wipes away._

_She picked up her LG G Stylo, seeing a text from Ashley._

_'Is he okay?'_

_'Yes, he had a little snack and some formula and Finn's playing with him.' Amanda responded as Finn lightly tickled Rhys and Rhys laughed._

_'That's good, you two are great with him.'_

_"Everything okay?" Seth asked, Ashley smiling at him._

_"Yeah, little guy's content with Mandy and Finn." Ashley explained._

"_That's good now put that phone down and stop worrying." Seth said._

_Ashley put her LGV10 down before they kissed._

_"TJ kind of lost it when I wouldn't let him babysit this time." Ashley responded._

"_Well who do you think would be more responsible with him overnight? Mandy or TJ?" Seth said._

_"Mandy, obviously. She's calm and relaxed around kids." Ashley replied, before looking down at her phone again._

"_You are not texting them okay?" Seth said._

_"Not now but before his bedtime." Ashley responded, Seth nodding before they hugged. "I hope one day that Mandy will be a mom." She replied as they kissed…_

**Present time…**

At the park, an older lady gave Amanda and Finn a look as they kept Rhys distracted… and clicked her tongue before walking off, Finn lightly resting his right hand on Amanda's left arm.

"What's her problem?" Amanda asked quietly.

"Who cares about her? She should speak up if she's got a problem." Finn said.

"She took one glance at Rhys and probably thinks he's our baby. I don't understand why people automatically assume that we're together." Amanda responded.

"Yeah especially since Rhys looks nothing like us." Finn said, when Ashley texted him.

'_Is everything still okay?' _

_'Yes, getting some fresh air at the park after he ate.' _Finn responded.

'_Okay, he hasn't been crying? Eating well? Winding down for a nap?' _

_'Calm and happy.' _Finn responded as Amanda sat down on a swing with Rhys on her lap, Finn taking a picture and sending it to Ashley… who responded happily.

'_Aw he looks happy.'_

Seth and Ashley kissed, Seth ready for his match.

In the park in Orlando, Terry was on an evening run… and stopped and did a double take once he saw Amanda, Finn and Rhys, Terry having not seen Amanda in almost a year.

"Mandy? You had a kid and didn't tell me?" Terry asked.

"Terry, this is my godson, Rhys Hardy." Amanda replied as she stood up with Rhys in her arms, Terry smiling.

"Oops my bad, he's definitely a Hardy." Terry responded.

"He is, he looks so much like Ash." Amanda replied as Terry brushed Rhys's short blonde hair back, before gently pinching his nose and putting his thumb between his index and middle finger.

"Got ya nose." Terry responded, Rhys babbling angrily and reaching his hands out, trying to snatch Terry's hand. "Yep he's got the Hardy rage."

"It's okay, little buddy, Papa Terry is just playing around." Finn replied, Rhys calming down.

From a distance, TJ watched jealously… until Bo smacked him between his eyes.

"Jesus Christ! You fucking trying to give me a heart attack?!" TJ demanded.

"Stop the jealousy!" Bo responded.

"I'm not jealous. Why would I be jealous?!" TJ replied.

"I know the green eyed monster when I see it. Mandy's his godmother!" Bo responded.

"I have no problem with her around Rhys! I just don't know her boyfriend or whoever he is to her all that well!" TJ explained.

"From what I can see, he's good around kids." Bo responded as he saw Finn playing with Rhys, TJ rolling his eyes and Bo slapping his left shoulder. "Knock that off!" He replied.

After a while, TJ grabbed his IPhone 6s and pulled up Ashley's number.

_'You left Rhys with Tiny and her boytoy?!' _TJ texted, Ashley responding quickly.

_'Not this again, I thought you had no jealousy issues!'_

_'Well Mandy claimed that he's her son!' _TJ replied as a lie, Ashley responding angrily.

'_What?!' _

_'Some random lady walked by, saying "Aww, what a cute son you have!" and she pretended to be all flustered acting like he's hers.' _TJ responded, Ashley letting out a yell of rage.

'_That's my fucking kid!_ _I spent 20 hours in labor for him! Everything I do, I do for him! I gave up my careers so I could be a mom that he deserves! If she thinks she can take over by watching him for one night she's mistaken!'_

TJ watched as Amanda answered her phone, Amanda taken aback by Ashley yelling at her and explaining that the only random lady that walked by didn't say anything and gave her and Finn a judgemental look instead before walking off… and Ashley calmed down, TJ gulping in fear.

"Finn, take Rhys back home, okay?" Amanda asked after hanging up… and chasing after TJ as he ran, Rhys looking to Finn in confusion.

"TJ did a very bad thing." Finn responded.

Rhys nodded, snuggling closer to Finn… and Finn kissed his forehead before they left.


	2. Untangle

TJ peeked around the corner and breathed a relieved sigh… before yelling as he was tackled and beaten up.

"Gotcha, you little lying prick!" Amanda retorted after hitting TJ again.

"Seriously?!" TJ growled after kicking Amanda in the head and standing up, Amanda bolting up to her feet.

"Why did you lie to Ash?!" Amanda responded as she slammed TJ into the brick wall.

"Just simply to prove you can't be responsible for him overnight. I mean after how do you know your fucktoy hasn't kidnapped him while you've been chasing me?" TJ sneered.

"Finn would never harm a child and neither would I! You're just a jealous, overgrown manchild!" Amanda replied before she slammed her knees into his ribcage and was pulled away by Brigette and Bo. "You need to get a new friend and you need a better boyfriend!" She responded, speaking to Brigette after speaking to Bo and then leaving… and both seeing how badly TJ's face was messed up.

"What the hell did you do?! I leave for five minutes to go find a water fountain and you pissed Mandy off?!" Bo demanded.

"Wait, aren't Mandy and Finn babysitting Rhys?!" Brigette asked.

"They are and TJ got jealous!" Bo explained, turning to TJ after taking his phone away and seeing the text. "You lied to Ash, you bastard!" He responded before handing the phone to Brigette… who slapped TJ.

"Aw come on! Why did you do that?!" TJ said.

"Because you can't seem to get it through your thick skull that Finn and Mandy are responsible!" Brigette explained angrily.

When Amanda got home, she quietly closed the door as she had a feeling that Rhys was asleep… and Finn examined her bleeding hands and bruising right eye.

"Rhys will be out for a bit. I put on the whale songs Spotify playlist that Ash said he likes, he was out like a light." Finn explained.

"He's a calm kid except when he gets mad." Amanda responded as Finn found a first aid kit and used peroxide to clean Amanda's scraped up hands before bandaging them.

Closing the bottle and throwing away the used cotton, he grabbed an ice pack and pressed it to Amanda's eye after gently removing her makeup for her… and lightly rubbing her right shoulder.

"I'm gonna strangle him for kicking you in the head!" Finn responded, anger kept restrained but barely.

"Why has TJ turned into such a prick lately? We're not harming Rhys." Amanda replied as Finn checked her over, seeing that she was alert and showed no signs of a concussion.

"Maybe he's just jealous because he usually babysits Rhys during the day." Finn said.

"She's gone overnight this time, not a few hours." Amanda responded before getting a text from Ashley.

'_Everything still okay?'_

_'Rhys is asleep… but TJ kicked me in the face and head during our fight.' _Amanda responded.

'_Well he's gonna be lucky to be alive when I get back I'm sorry for going off at you.' _

_'I'm not mad at you… but I think I might have a loose tooth.' _Amanda responded as Finn checked her mouth when she opened it. "How bad?" She asked, Finn looking right at her.

"Well one's gone, a second one is barely hanging on… hold still, Darlin'." Finn explained.

Amanda did, Finn removing the tooth and pressing a towel to the wound… before they heard Rhys crying, Finn going to check on him.

"Hey, you okay, little guy?" Finn asked after lifting Rhys up… and checking him over.

He unbuttoned the pajama onesie, removing it and the diaper before cleaning Rhys off and putting a new diaper and onesie on him and holding him… and softly singing him into sleep, putting him in the crib and going downstairs after quietly closing the door.

"You are a natural with kids, you'll be a great dad one day." Amanda responded quietly.

"And you'll be an awesome mom, Darlin'." Finn replied as Rue walked in and quietly closing the door.

"Bo told me about that fight at the park. Good on ya for beating TJ up, Doll." Rue responded as she and Amanda hugged for a few seconds.

_**September 26th 2015…**_

Rhys looked up and squealed happily when Ashley walked in and lifted him into her arms.

"Awww did you miss me?" Ashley asked.

"He's such a calm baby but he did tell Terry off in his own way." Amanda responded, Ashley laughing softly.

"You are brutally honest like your mommy." Ashley replied before kissing his cheek.

After she hugged them and she and Rhys left, Finn got Amanda to sit down… and he got a text from Bo.

_'Tiny really beat TJ to a pulp, what did you teach her?'_

_'A lot of the moves I used while wrestling in Japan. But I doubt she hit TJ with a 1916 DDT on the concrete.' _Finn replied.

At the same time, Amanda got a text from Seth.

_'She left before I woke up!'_

_'You're dating a single mom, Seth. Rhys is her main priority. The only thing that happened was TJ lying to her because he got pissed off that Ash wouldn't leave Rhys with him overnight.' _Amanda responded, Seth replying in an angry manner.

_'No Mandy, you're the one who lied!'_

_'I didn't lie to Ash and I didn't tell any random woman any lies either! Why are you always looking for some reason to make others in my life hate me, do you get some sick thrill from it?!' _Amanda responded angrily.

Seth didn't reply and Finn wrapped his arms around Amanda's shoulders.

Across town, TJ jumped as Ashley walked in and Brigette distracted Rhys.

"Tell me something, TJ. Hypothetically speaking, if Mandy did recently have a baby, how would she have lost the postpartum weight so quickly or manage to look put together when a baby takes up a lot of attention?!" Ashley responded.

"Well you should take a look at yourself! You don't even look like you had a baby!" TJ explained.

"Because every woman is different! Mandy's smaller than I am!" Ashley replied before taking a deep breath. "I don't get your mistrust towards Finn at all! Why don't you think he's a good person?" She responded.

"How do you know he's not abusive towards Mandy?! She was hiding a black eye two weeks ago!" TJ replied.

"That was because Charlotte got careless in the ring! And you really shouldn't talk about Mandy being injured considering that you kicked her so hard that she lost two teeth and has a black eye!" Ashley responded. "You know what? You can't be trusted, you are no longer Rhys' godfather."

"What? You…. you can't!" TJ replied angrily.

"Oh yes I can and I just did." Ashley responded before leaving with Rhys, TJ grabbing his phone and dialing Amanda's number but getting her voicemail.

_"If you've reached the right number, leave a message."_

"Oh of course you don't answer your phone bitch! Hope fucktoy enjoys being godfather." TJ retorted before hanging up.

"You're the one who messed things up, Thomas, not them!" Brigette responded, TJ turning to her.

"He walked into her life barely a year ago and she completely changed! The Mandy we knew is gone!" TJ retorted.

"No the man I know and loved has changed and is now gone." Brigette said before leaving the house.

TJ had noticed that she had packed some of things earlier… and he thought back.


End file.
